I 9

“Let’s take justice into our hands,” Paul stands before the class, “we can’t just expect the incompetent Security Ministry to bother to do anything. They don’t even care if there’s some killer out there who could very well kill any of us at all. Do you really not want to do anything at all, the killer took one of our friends’ lives. You must have heard of the news of Luis’s death. Do you really want to leave your life to the killer’s whim, hoping they’ll spare you?”

“You say that, but how do we even find the killer?”

Paul responds, “The killer kidnapped 3 children of the Basic school a long while ago. Some of you may have heard of this. We can tell the family that got the ransom to bring the Artifact and we will ambush him at the promised location.”

“If it’s that simple, shouldn’t the Security Ministry have pulled this trick already?”

“…fair enough.” Paul returns to his seat.

“How boring,” Ackie nonchalantly remarks, “and here I thought he’s gonna execute some grand plan.”

“Still, do you have any idea why the Security Ministry hasn’t done that?”

“Maybe they did,” he shrugs, “but the enemy was so tough they ended up being slaughtered.”

Bad news after bad news. The atmosphere in the class becomes unbearable. I wonder if things would get so bad students wouldn’t have to attend school for a while.

The next day, the entire kingdom received the news that: the three children had been found.

On the way home… I decided I had gotten way too fed up, and went somewhere else instead. I have never really explored the Southern region, have I? At some point in the direction I was moving toward, I passed by the cemetery. Some middle-aged people were crying. Although it’s not a rare sight for people to be carried to this place and get buried, wars still going on after all, it’s still unusual for the victims to be young children.

I keep moving, and reach the sea.

“You can reach most kingdoms from here, by ship.”

I look toward the voice. It’s Roselyn.

“You live in the Southern region as well?”

“Nope, just paid this place a visit. Although, I’m afraid it would get really late, and by the time I got to the Southern gate the guards would have shut it.”

…I sigh internally. Although she isn’t the only one who’s being abnormal here.

“Sit down. I’m not gonna bite you know.”

I do as she says just so she wouldn’t say that again.

“How has life been for you,” I ask. “Sleepy as usual.” “You sound carefree.” “You sound distressed.” “Yeah.”

“And not because of the incidents, right?” Roselyn asks.

“…yeah.”

Even though, perhaps, I shouldn’t be. This world isn’t much different from the past world that people seem to have no clue what they are doing.

The difference is, the past world has something like a linear path, for each person.

Here: Soldiers get killed by a random teacher. A teacher with swordsman skills gets killed by a superior unknown man. People fight each other in the street more than fighting against monsters. A government (royal court) that doesn’t want to solve problems.

Some of the symptoms are similar back in the past world. But it didn’t even have the problems people have here. You can’t realize how good you had without experiencing another world.

Worst of all, none of this seems to mean anything, and yet they hover on people’s heads as burdens.

Smooch.

I feel her warm lips on mine.

“…”

“Something to better occupy your mind, no?”

Then she lands another kiss on my lips.

Even when I was in the past world, I had never kissed my wife myself. After marriage, she pretty much just stays home, and I go to work. All day. In the evening we just have dinner then go to sleep.

Before that, I have never had any interest in the opposite gender.

I don’t really know what to do with this.

But I could try.

“Say, if I go home now, it would definitely be late, and I definitely can’t go past the gate.”

“You said that.”

“Can I stay a night at your home?”

“I’m not sure my parents would allow it. If they do…”

Although, my gut says they would.

On our way to my home, I asked Roselyn, “Say, Roselyn, where would you go, if you can depart from the sea of the Southern region, to anywhere at all?”

“Lots of places, the kingdom of Tranquility, the kingdom of Hope, the kingdom of Mist.”

I may have heard of these names before. The last time I checked out the maps was years ago. Maybe next time when I come to the library, I would ask Alina for some.

…?

I notice a familiar figure from afar, in the cemetery.

“What is it?” Roselyn asks.

“Nothing…”

“Can we just go to your home now?”

“Well, actually, I have something I want to attend to. Erm… do you know where my house is?”

“The one with three scarecrows?”

“…yeah, you know where it is.”

“Fine then. Wonder how your mom would greet me though.” She flashes a grin, then goes.

I approach the cemetery, not just a figure, but two figures right near to each other. The female figure is looking up to the face of the male figure, her mouth gasping.

“If he knew about our relationship, that would be the end of my mission.”

“Worry not, I will never let him know.”

I know both of them.

It’s Regina and Paul.

“!!! Ryle?” she finally noticed that I’m here.

“Regina, what are you doing here?”

“It’s none of your business,” Paul replies on behalf of her.

I look at her face, which looks anxious, not sure if it’s because of me or something, then Paul, who seems disturbed by me.

“Yeah. I mean, we were just talking about some stuff here.” Regina meekly answers.

“Right in the cemetery?”

“I already said it’s none of your business! Can you just scram already?!”

“Paul!”

“…fine then. Just don’t come home too late.”

I leave the cemetery.

As I reach my home, I look around but don't see Roselyn anywhere. “I’m home, mom.” “Welcome home. Is Regina with you?” “No, she’s still busy with some stuff, she said.” “Alright. Dinner is almost ready, so I hope Regina is coming home soon.”

I turn to my bedroom, then return to the dining room.

“Have you seen any girl coming to our home?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“A friend of mine wants to stay a night here, and she should be here right now.”

“A night here? That’s okay. Where is she though?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she gets lost on her way coming here or something.”

This is weird. What she said suggested that she knows my house well.

“I’m going out for a bit. I need to check out for her.”

“Alright. Be careful.”

I ran toward the sea. There’s a chance she truly lost her way, so she decided to return to where we sat. …no, she’s not here.

I run toward the capital, but only see the guards. The gate has now been shut.

“Excuse me, have you seen any girl passing through here?”

“We saw nobody at all, let alone any girl.”

I return to my house. Regina is at home now.

“Welcome back,” she asks, “what have you been doing for so long?”

I tell her about Roselyn.

“Oh my… I haven't even seen her ever since… nevermind, anyway I didn’t see when I went home.”

“What were you talking about with Paul by the way?”

“Just some… classroom stuff.”

“Didn’t know that you know Paul.” Except for the occasion I got beaten by him, of course. But she may not even have seen that by the time she reached the scene. And I didn’t feel like telling her that. I assume she only saw Rick stomping on me.

“Well… he did approach me, and we had some talks, sometimes.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, let’s have some dinner. You are really hungry right now.”

The next day, I don’t see Roselyn in the class at all. For the entire day.

…

..

.

It was a long time ago already. In the past world, of course. I couldn’t see anybody at home. Not my mom, not my dad. I kept looking all over the house. By the pond. By the rail-roads. I decided to go to some places. Maybe I should go to the factory where dad works? That would be way too far. Maybe I should go to the police station and ask uncle policemen there to find my mom, or dad? It’s too far away as well. I tried to use the telephone, but couldn’t call anybody at all. I tried to climb the rooftop of the house to see if I could see my mom and dad from anywhere at all. But from the vicinity that I could see, I couldn’t see anything at all. No matter how I tried, no matter what I did, I couldn’t find them at all. As the sun started setting, I thought perhaps I could use some trick to call them to go back to me.

So I started crying, bawling my eyes out.

…

“I already told you, the school cannot disclose personal information of the student. This is the last time I’m telling you. One more word and you will get suspended for 1 to 3 days.”

“…”

Regina waits for me by the school entrance. “What took you so long?”

“Regina… Do you know where Roselyn’s house is?”

“How am I supposed to know though? I haven’t talked that much to her.”

I can't even suppress my really loud sigh. My head lowers down due to exhaustion. Regina’s voice for some reason gets even more softened, and tries to turn my face to hers.

“I’m sure you are having a big issue here. But it’s late already,” she pats my cheeks and forehead, caresses the hair, “let’s go home and we will figure it out later, alright?”

At home, I’m not sure if she has gotten fed up with my incessant sighs or not. My parents do ask me “What is it, Ryle? Is there anything wrong?” a lot though. Regina silently finishes dinner, and pulls me with her to our bedroom.

“Let me guess, Roselyn didn’t come to your class today.”

“Yeah.”

She nods, “Alright. And what you are trying to do now is to find her house, so you can directly come there and check where she is. Alright. I’m gonna try to help you tomorrow.” She smiles brightly.

“…can you even do that though?”

“Of course, trust your family member! Now, let’s go to sleep, you don’t want to sleep late after all.”

I notice that she isn’t doing her homework now. Not that I mind though. Usually when we can’t use the main lighting device, we just use the lux crystals which are already enough by themselves to brighten the area of our respective tables. Still, I can’t help but roll around on my own bed. Regina opens her eyes, she hasn’t slept at all. “Say, do you want to sleep together?” “…no, I’m fine.” But at this rate, I don’t think I can sleep at all, and perhaps sleeping together would be a better solution. “Alright, if you don’t mind.” “Come here.” I lie on her bed. This way, I would try all my might to fall asleep so as not to bother Regina.

The next day, Regina tells me she got the address of Roselyn. “See? Told you I would be able to help,” she winks. “How did you get it though?” “Acquaintances.” Given how popular she is at school, I don’t find it hard to believe that.

“Let’s go,” she says. “You don’t really need to accompany me.” “…” She gives me a deadpan look, which suggests I’m not the one in charge here. I go side by side with her.

Roselyn’s house is located in the Northern region. I have never been to this region before due to how far it has always been, and I haven’t even explored the other nearer areas to the Southern region, the thought of the Northern region just never crossed my mind. In any case, given how far it is, it’s easy to see why Roselyn asked to stay at my house for a night.

“We’re here,” Regina says. Although this house isn’t so far from the Northern gate. A very small house, definitely not something for a family of four. Perhaps Roselyn lives alone? Before I know it, Regina enters the house. I follow suit.

“Roselyn!” I look around the house. “Nobody is here.”

“A very clean and neat house,” Regina remarks, “although there aren’t many objects here.”

“…”

“…say…” Regina hesitantly asks, “Maybe we should go home now?”

I nod, but then my hand touches something on the table, a small piece of paper placed upside down, held still by a single book. I just give it a look out of curiosity, the content makes my eyes widen.

“Meet me at the school tonight, 11 PM?” Regina repeats the content. “Is this letter directed at Roselyn?”

“…or…”

This is just way too absurd… but I can’t rule out that possibility.

Dinner, Regina munches on the food as she tells me, “It’s not like you can get pass the gate anyway.”

“I know.”

“What are you two talking about?” mom asks.

“Well…” Regina looks at me before responding, “it’s kinda long to explain, but a friend of Ryle disappeared, and he wants to search for her.”

Bedroom, Regina reads books, glances a look at me occasionally, continues reading books.

“Isn’t tomorrow Saturday? I think you have a whole day to read tomorrow, instead of staying up this late.”

“True,” she proceeds to pick another book.

“…”

10:30 PM. She neutralizes her lux crystal, covering herself under blanket.

I quietly get up and get out of the bedroom. My parents must be sleeping right now. I try to quietly open the door and get outside.

“You truly don’t want to give up huh?” Regina is outside, standing right before the door!!! Did she just get outside through the other door?!

“I just need to pee…” This must have been the best excuse I have ever given to anybody in the past and this world ever.

She sighs. Then takes out something, “Before you go, put this on,” she pulls out my right hand and puts a ring into my finger.

“What is it?”

“Just a sort of charm. You however do not ever take it off at all. Alright?”

“Alright.”

“I know I can’t stop you anyway, do what you will,” Regina has a wry smile on her face.

“Sorry…”

“I will see you tomorrow.” She goes back into the house.

I ran hastily toward the capital. I’m not sure if I can get there in time. The more crucial question is, how do I even get through the gate? I keep running and running, my mind can’t think of a way…

…huh?

The gate is open.

…

As I enter the school grounds, I can smell a strong unbearable stench of… blood.

“Wow, so you’ve finally come. There were other intruders before you, but they were easy to deal with.” He glances at the silhouettes on the ground. In the light, I can see they’re wearing guard armor.

The guy standing in front of me is the crimson armor I saw in the Eastern region.

“…”

“Hmm… that’s really quiet for a character who managed to come in here. I don’t know how you pass through the gate, but it must be a clever trick. Well, unless the gate just opens by itself.”

“…what do you want?”

“Hey don’t ask such a bland question with such a sorrowful face. It’s not like it matters what I want, does it? My preferences and tastes change based on mood anyway.”

“…Artifacts?”

“Ah, yes, right… Artifacts.”

“Is that why you kidnapped Roselyn?”

“Huh? No, no, I did not kidnap Roselyn,” his leg pushes a lying silhouette among others on the ground, it rolls toward the portion of the ground where the light shines brighter.

It’s Roselyn. She’s still breathing, but her eyes can barely open, her entire body slightly trembles.

“She doesn’t have any Artifact anyway. Nor anything of worth. I’m not sure if it’s because the author sucks at lore building, or the developers are just so lazy they haven’t managed to implement all that stuff.”

Lore building? Author? Developers? What is he talking about?

“…who exactly are you?”

“Me? How do I even answer this? Would the name ‘Crimson Hero’ work?”

“…”

“Just kidding. Just kidding. If you want to know me, then I guess…” then he takes off his helm.

It’s Ackie.

“Hey hey, don’t gasp. I do not want to see another cliché of people acting all bewildered after realizing their very friend is actually the villian.”

“…you didn’t have to kill anybody.”

“Come to think of it, yes, I didn’t have to. I just happen to think stealing the Artifacts alone would just be boring though. So I decided to make things more interesting.”

It’s just weird judging by how swift the crimson armor, or Ackie, is, that he should have any trouble taking the Artifacts anyway. If he can avoid the detection of the guards, and the Security Ministry (whatever they are doing), then why should the average subject in the kingdom possess any hurdle to him?

Except for Claude, who still ended up being killed. And Claude could very easily pass through the walls surrounding the capital by the way.

“Although I suspect even if I don’t, somebody else would, given that strong Magicians or Swordsmen don’t let their Artifacts be exposed that easily. I haven’t tested this out yet, but I really should,” he chuckles, “not that test players are paid a lot anyway, but perhaps this is the very reason.”

“You have been using a lot of…”

The words Claude used hit me.

“…alien vocabulary. Are you by any chance, somebody who was reincarnated into this world?”

“Reincarnate? Erm… well, you could say that, I guess that’s the premise… Are you by any chance, another test player as well?”

“…huh?”

“Wait a minute, my boss said this game is single-player. There’s no way another player should be here… Oh.” His face slowly forms a smirk, “I see what you are doing there, fourth-wall breaking trick. Although, this trick is used all the time anyway, how about you drop it though? By ‘you’ I mean the developers, and maybe even the author.”

I can’t help but utter the word, “…game?”

“Video game. I don’t know if you as a character do possess any cognition capacity to comprehend what I say. In any case let me explain, it’s something you play on a computer, a huge thing that allows you to… well… stuff… How do I even explain what a computer is… ahh…”

“Isn’t a computer just…” I can think of two things here, “…a device for scientific calculating? How can you even… play something with it?”

Well, I can imagine people devised some game to play with the punched cards. But it’s absolutely a waste to use a computer machine for such frivolous tasks. In the same way you don’t build an oil rig for fishing.

But regardless of that, how is what he has been saying any related to… anything at all?

“Is your mind stuck in the last century or something? God dang, some retro nerds must have been at it. I doubt the novel by itself has this sort of lame joke… unless I have leafed through it.”

“…”

“Anyway, let’s just finish our banter and get to the combat, my favorite character.” He pulls out his sword from the scabbard, “I have never found any character in this game as interesting as you. Even for Regina, who is supposed to be the selling point of this game.”

I pick up a lying sword on the ground. He makes a stance, with both hands holding the sword (size slightly longer than the average one), the blade pointing diagonally toward the sky above me. I make a stance too.

One. Our blade clashes. Two. I’m surprised by how I managed to deflect his attacks twice. At this rate, it’s time to ditch the 3-move rule. The clanging noises continue endlessly with me having to move backward every step. His kick sent me to the wall, but his next attack hit the roof due to the size of the sword. I plunge toward him but he managed to deflect my piercing move with his bare hands. That seems to make his hand bleed.

“Pretty well,” he throws aside the long sword and picks up one lying on the ground. “I’m not holding back now.” His attacks now feel like whirlwinds to the point I can barely keep up with. I repeatedly get slashed or stabbed on non-vital areas. So much blood is bleeding from the number of built-up wounds on my body now. My body feels weaker than I want it to. Could have been worse if I didn’t channel through my body with Defender power enough of the time. But it feels like I have to focus more on that than actually fighting, this doesn’t mean well.

Splurt.

My left hand got severed.

“Wow, I guess this is it. Though what a pity, I don’t think I shall ever encounter anybody who fights as interestingly as you do in this game. There’s also Claude actually, but you catch my drift.”

“…interestingly…?”

“Ever saw how Paul fought during the Sword training period? His attacks all feel like he wants to project his own ego into the fight, more than he cares about the act of fighting itself. He along with the likes of Levenbar, or Audiever all seem to possess more strength than any arts, if you get what I’m saying. I guess that’s just the nature of this game’s world, where nobody truly cares about sword fighting, and just let their inherent natural abilities do the talking.”

Nobody… cares about sword fighting… at all…

A senseless world, where a sword means the same as attack magic.

I make a stance. He chuckles merrily, as if he likes it. “That’s the spirit. I will definitely miss you a lot. My favorite character, Ryle.”

Defender or Enhancer are just two states. Nobody truly knows how any of all this works.

…my severed hand… I no longer feel pain. Literally.

Our fight commences again. I caught up to his fighting speed. Gradually.

“Hey hey, are you one of those elite characters who actually bursts up hidden power once being damaged to the state of near-death? This is getting so hard now.”

True, his attacks are all optimal.

But no, it doesn’t matter.

All I have to do, is to follow my obligation, of eliminating the criminal.

His attacks now aim at the very critical points.

But that’s not even an issue for me, as long as the objective is reached.

The clanging noises keep sounding to no end.

Stabbed. I finished him right before his blade almost chopped my head. Then sever his arm as he falls onto the ground.

“…you was a great hidden boss… see you in the next playthrough…”

These were his last words.

I turn my eyes to Roselyn and go toward her. But my steps become increasingly impossible to move. I look onto my body now. There are even more cuts and wounds that are much more critical than before my left hand got severed. I fell down.

Isn’t it ironic, that all the efforts spent into hours of sword wielding and training don’t even match the amount of experience you got from an actual battle? Why even do that anyway? A question directed to many people, including me.

“You are not completely recovered yet, lie still,” I can see a school nurse in my sight.

My left hand, is intact. “I don’t know what you did last night, but do remember to thank your friend. If she wasn’t there in time, you wouldn’t get to use your left hand anymore.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s sleeping now, connecting the severed hand to you takes a lot of energy of magic after all,” the nurse points to another bed. I see the familiar face of my family member. I smile.

“There’s also another person…” I look around.

“There was one such girl, but her case was more grave, so we sent her to the hospital,” the nurse responds. “She has gone into a coma, it’s doubtful that she’s gonna wake up any time soon.